1973 Volume 35 Issue 4 Pages 301-311
Ultrastructural localization of the aldehyde resistant glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) activity was studied in various organs of the hamster. Mitochondrial GOT activity was located in the intracristal space and, to a lesser extent, in the outer compartment, mostly on the surface of the inner membrane. There was very little evidence of reaction directly over the membrane or in the matrix of the mitochondria. The mitochondria of the cardiac and the skeletal muscle showed the highest level of activity both in the outer compartment and in the intracristal space. The cells in the liver and adrenal cortex had considerable amount of patchy reaction praducts. In both the axonal portion of the motor endplate and in neurons of the cerebrum, this enzyme activity was found mainly in the intracristal space of mitochondria. The mitochondria in the smooth muscle, the kidney, and the intestine showed a lower level of activity. Occasionaly the limiting membrane of microbodies in the hepatocytes showed GOT activity. No reaction product was seen on the smooth surfaced membrane systems such as the Golgi complex, the agranular endoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane.
